'Deferred action' prompts surge in school transcript requests.

Johana Deleon, left, Gilbert Mejia and Carlos Mendez, who each was brought into the United States by illegal immigrant parents, canvas a South San Antonio neighborhood in search of registered voters willing to pledge to vote for political candidates that support the Dream Act, on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. The Dream Act would gives some undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children a path toward legal status. Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012.

Photo By Billy Calzada/Special to the Express-News

Johana Deleon, left, Gilbert Mejia and Carlos Mendez, each of who was brought into the United States by illegal immigrant parents, canvas a South San Antonio neighborhood in search of registered voters willing to pledge to vote for political candidates that support the Dream Act, on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. The Dream Act would gives some undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children a path toward legal status. Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012.

Photo By Billy Calzada/Special to the Express-News

Gilbert Mejia, left, Johana Deleon prepare to walk a neighborhood in South San Antonio in search of registered voters willing to pledge to vote for political candidates that support the Dream Act, on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. The Dream Act would gives some undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children a path toward legal status. Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012.

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A paper chase by thousands of immigrants raised in the United States, grasping at the chance to work legally, has caused a busy rush at school districts and government agencies in South Texas and other areas with high Latino populations.

They have emerged from shadows to stand in line for school transcripts, passports and identification cards, lured by the Obama administration's announcement in June of the “deferred action” policy that allows young people living in the country illegally to apply for two-year renewable work permits.

In the Rio Grande Valley, one school district had to hire temporary staff and another has seen lines of people waiting outside their offices in the morning for transcripts.

“We never thought we were going to get inundated that way,” Edinburg Independent School District spokesman Gilbert Tagle said. “They're desperate. They want their documents as quickly as possible.”

A surge of transcript requests has been dramatic at some San Antonio area school districts — especially Northside, North East, and Edgewood — but the requests have barely registered at others, such as Harlandale and Somerset, officials said. One of those obtaining a North East ISD transcript was Gilbert Mejia, 23, a San Antonio College graduate, who has lobbied hard for the DREAM Act, hoping Congress would pass the bill to offer a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who grew up in the United States.

Mejia and others like him refer to themselves as “DREAMers.” With the legislation having gone nowhere, he is pursuing the next best thing, documenting what he needs to get the work permit — proof he has been in the United States continuously for five years.

Mejia came to the United States at age 3. Enrolled at UTSA for the spring semester, he is a member of the San Antonio Immigrant Youth Movement. On Wednesday afternoon, some of its members were knocking on doors and talking to residents on the South Side.

“We tell them our story and the importance of voting,” he said. “And ask if they pledge to be a DREAM voter.”

He can't vote, though he considers himself American.

Northside ISD officials received 642 transcript requests in August from graduates, compared to 413 the same month last year. In July, it was 500 requests, up from 321 in 2011.

At North East ISD, officials have seen 600 such requests from July to late September, up from 441 during the same period in 2011.

“Office staff indicate that conversations include references to the DREAM Act and legal advice,” Northside spokesman Pascual Gonzalez said, anecdotal evidence that was echoed by officials at other districts that have seen the upticks.

Northside and North East officials said they've been able to handle the increase, with Northside able to supply transcripts in a day and North East within its normal 72-hour time frame. Transcripts usually cost $5.

But at Edgewood the rush has been harder to meet. The district has seen transcript requests jump from 25 a week before Obama's announcement to an estimated 50 requests per week. It can take up to three days.

In the Rio Grande Valley, the Mission Consolidated ISD hired a temporary worker to help process requests, said Craig Verley, its spokesman.He said older records have taken a few days to dig out of storage after a microfilm system broke down.

Mexican consular offices have been noticeably busier too, but don't track the number of or reasons why young Mexicans have sought birth certificates, passports or other documents.

“We can't say the huge impact is for deferred action,” said Victor Corzo, the head of the consular assistance department at the Mexican consulate general here. But the requests are up by 10 percent to 15 percent, which is “significant,” he said.

He said other consulates have been busier since June as well.

Eligible applicants must be 30 or younger, without serious criminal records, who entered the United States before they turned 16. They must have at least a high school diploma or have served in the military. And they must prove they have lived in the country since June 2007.

Government guidelines issued Sept. 14 say applicants should provide as much evidence of their residency “as reasonably possible” but don't have to account for every day of the past five years.

Mexican consular officials in Los Angeles issued 17,444 passports and consular identification cards in August, up 63 percent from the same period last year, said Consul General David Figueroa, who attributed the entire increase to the new policy. The wait for a passport appointment there grew from one or two days to 40 days, he told the Associated Press.

Back in Edinburg, district spokesman Tagle said people often are waiting for district offices to open each morning to get a transcript.

“Reality hit that it was a big endeavor not only for the district but for the government, too,” he said.